THE FIRST RESURRECTION Eph 3:1-15

 THE FIRST RESURRECTION

Introduction

Paul deems it necessary to warn his dear friends of certain perils that could endanger their spiritual life and the well-being of the church. He warns of false Christians who were teaching doctrines contrary to the Word of God. The main theme of this section, however, is the first resurrection. This is the resurrection of all the righteous who have qualified to rule and reign with the Lord during His millennial reign upon earth. This is the high calling of God in Christ Jesus (3:14).

Main Concept

3:1 - “Finally, my brethren, rejoice in the Lord. To write the same things to you, to me indeed is not grievous, but for you it is safe.” Before addressing their problems, Paul encourages them to rejoice. Paul’s rejoicing spirit in the midst of such horrendous personal trials and hardships must have been a great source of comfort for these dear believers. It reminds me of a well-known story in the last century of a ship that was in a terrible storm. The passengers were ordered not to come out on the deck. However, one intrepid soul clambered out, making his way with much difficulty onto the wave-drenched deck and then to the pilothouse where the deck officer was strapped to the wheel itself. When the deck officer saw him, he just smiled. The passenger then made his way back below decks where he assured all his fellow travelers that all was well because the deck officer was smiling. In much the same way, the buoyant spirit of the Apostle Paul caused his dear friends to take fresh hope in their battles with the enemy.

3:2 - “Beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision.” Paul now warns them to beware of three kinds of people: dogs, evil workers, and those of the concision. Throughout Scripture the term dogs is used of the lowest form of humanity. It is used prophetically of those who attacked Christ upon the cross (Psa 22:16,20). In the Law, the price of a dog and a whore are comparable; and neither could be offered to the Lord. Deuteronomy 23:18 says, “Thou shalt not bring the hire of a whore, or the price of a dog, into the house of the LORD thy God for any vow: for even both these are abomination unto the LORD thy God.” In Revelation 22:15 dogs are likened to the most shamelessly unclean of humanity: “For without are dogs, and sorcerers, and whore-mongers, and murderers, and idolaters, and whosoever loveth and maketh a lie.” Dogs in Scripture are symbolic of homosexuals and people with sexual uncleanness. Evil workers are those who because of their wicked hearts sow heresies, envy, jealousy, and discord in the congregations of God. “It is necessary that offenses come,” said the Lord, “but woe unto them by whom they come” (Mt.18:7). The concision were Jewish zealots who insisted on the keeping of the ceremonial law, which has been done away in Christ, in all its forms. These Jews were seeking to force the non-Jewish Christians to become circumcised according to the law of Moses. In other words, they wanted to bring them back again under the bondage of the ceremonial law. In New Testament times, this was perhaps one of the most difficult obstacles that the early Christians faced. Even the Apostle Peter was caught up in their dissimulations (Gal. 2:12-19).

3:3 - “For we are the circumcision, which worship God in the spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, and have no confidence in the flesh.” True circumcision is now explained by the apostle. Paul developed this truth in his epistle to the Romans: “For he is not a Jew, which is one outwardly; neither is that circumcision, which is outward in the flesh: But he is a Jew, which is one inwardly; and circumcision is that of the heart, in the spirit, and not in the letter; whose praise is not of men, but of God” (Rom. 2:28-29).

True circumcision is not physical circumcision which the Jews practiced. This was given by God to point to inward circumcision of the heart. Spiritual circumcision is the cutting away of the sinful traits and nature we were born with. It is replacing our hard, rebellious heart with a heart of flesh that responds to the Lord and worships Him. Those who have circumcised hearts worship the Lord in Spirit and in truth (Deut. 10:16; 30:6), as Christ said to the woman at the well in John 4:23: “But the hour cometh, and now is, when the true worshippers shall worship the Father in spirit and in truth: for the Father seeketh such to worship him.” Also, we must have a rejoicing spirit, which is a manifestation of the fruit of the Holy Spirit. Another sign of a circumcised heart is that we have no confidence in the flesh (all pride is dealt with), and we rely completely upon the Lord.

True Righteousness

There are basically two forms of righteousness:

1. Our own righteousness, which comes from seeking to be righteous by the works of the law, is roundly condemned in the Scriptures. It leads to self-righteousness. As Isaiah 64:6 tells us, all of our righteousness is as filthy rags, meaning those used by a menstrous woman which are an abomination even in the sight of men, let alone in the sight of a holy God. The point is that our righteousness is not accepted by the Lord. Only the righteousness that comes by faith in the shed blood of Jesus Christ is accepted by God.

2. The righteousness of Christ, which is received by the faith of God. These two aspects of righteousness are now addressed by Paul. To have the true righteousness that comes alone from God, we must repudiate our own righteousness.

Now the apostle seeks to show his friends that if ever there was one who could trust in his own righteousness, it certainly was Paul.

v. 5 -The Pharisees were a class of Jews who sought to keep every jot and tittle of the law. They were scrupulous in every detail of the law of Moses, but had added a lot of additional rules and regulations that the Lord condemned. These traditions of men held people in bondage to the letter of the law, hindering them from fulfilling the spirit of the law — which is mercy and justice (Mt. 23:23). This is clearly seen in the life of Saul of Tarsus, who was one of the most ardent persecutors of Christians before his conversion on the road to Damascus. He did not show forth the fruits of love, mercy, and compassion in his dealings with the saints. But when the grace of God apprehended his life, he began to major on these important issues of life.

3:6 -Nonetheless, according to the letter of the law he was without fault; albeit he had to recognize later in life that he was the chief of sinners because he had blasphemed the name of Jesus, the Son of God (1 Tim. 1:13-15).

3:7 - Paul realized that all of his righteousness according to the law would not benefit him. Instead, it was an obstacle that caused him to oppose the gospel message of salvation by faith in Christ Jesus.

3:8 - Like Paul, our own good works, however meritorious they may appear in the sight of man, cannot save us or bring us to the knowledge of Christ, in whom alone is salvation and true righteousness.

3:9 - It is by being in Christ and having Him in us that we receive the gift of God’s righteousness by faith. Habakkuk 2:4, “The just shall live by His faith [that is, the faith of the Son of God].”

Qualifications for the First Resurrection (3:10-11)

3:10-11 - “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” Here we see the deepest heart cry of the Apostle Paul. With all that was in him, he wanted to qualify for the first resurrection spoken of in Revelation 20:6: “Blessed and holy is he that hath part in the first resurrection: on such the second death hath no power, but they shall be priests of God and of Christ, and shall reign with him a thousand years.”

There are two specific resurrections of the saints: the first resurrection,which takes place at the Second Coming of Christ, and the general resurrection, which takes place after the 1,000 year reign of Christ upon earth. Not all Christians will have part in the first resurrection. This is only for the overcoming saints who will be resurrected and receive their glorified bodies to live and reign with the Lord during His 1,000 year reign upon earth. This is made very clear in the Word of God. The Apostle Paul said in Philippians 3:10-11: “That I may know him, and the power of his resurrection, and the fellowship of his sufferings, being made conformable unto his death; If by any means I might attain unto the resurrection of the dead.” The Apostle Paul’s desire and goal was to qualify for (attain unto) the first resurrection spoken of in Revelation 20:6.

This word “resurrection” Paul uses in Philippians 3:11 is a compound word in the Greek which is used only here. It means the out-resurrection from among the dead. This implies that only some of the dead are raised at this time, not all of them. Paul wanted to be in this special, select group of “called out ones from among the dead.” Obviously, if it could be automatically assumed that one will be resurrected at this time just because one is a believer, Paul would never have sought to qualify to be in this group. Thus only a select group of believers who are holy will be resurrected at the time of the Second Coming. They will receive their glorified bodies and rule and reign with Christ during His millennial reign. They will be kings and priests who teach the Lord’s statutes to the nations. The rest of the saved and unsaved will not be resurrected until after the Lord’s 1,000 year reign, when all will appear before the Lord to give an account of their lives (Rev. 20:12-15).

In Philippians 3:10, Paul gives us four qualifications that must be worked out in our lives in order for us to have a part in the first resurrection:

1. That I may know Him

2. That I may know the power of His resurrection

3. That I may know the fellowship of His sufferings

4. Being made conformable to His death

We will now look at these four qualifications for the first resurrection in some detail. Because this portion is the main theme of the Philippian epistle, we will cover it in greater detail than the other themes of the book.

1. THAT I MAY KNOW HIM

Paul’s ever increasing desire in life was to know Christ more and more. He cried out, “That I may know Him.” This was written six years before his death. The Apostle Paul was a man who had already met Christ on the road to Damascus nearly thirty years before. He had seen the Lord many times, and had even visited the third heaven, and yet his cry was, “I want to know Christ in a more intimate way!” You see, we must never plateau in our Christian walk. We must ever have a progressive, ongoing vision and desire to know Christ more every day and to behold Him in all of His beauty.

The Greek word Paul uses for “know” is ginosko, which means “a personal knowledge.” This comes through the closest and most intimate relationship possible. As you know in life, it is when you live with a person (like your husband or wife) that you really get to know him, and what he likes and what he doesn’t like. Well, that was Paul’s desire. He wanted to know the Lord in such an intimate way that he knew how to please Him. This should be our goal in life too.

To know the Lord really means to know what He is like — to know Him by His character. Well, what is Christ like? In Exodus 34:6 the Lord revealed Himself to Moses through five attributes of His character. “And the Lord passed by before him, and proclaimed, The Lord, The Lord God, merciful and gracious, longsuffering, and abundant in goodness and truth” (Ex. 34:6). Then in the New Testament in Matthew 11:29, Christ used two other words to describe Himself: “I am meek and lowly in heart.” Christ wants to be known by these seven attributes. Let’s now look at these seven attributes of Christ to get an idea of what He is like so that we may know Him in this way. It is so important to study these aspects of the character of Christ because it is as these same qualities are worked out in our lives by the grace of God that we can come to know Christ intimately.

1. Merciful. The Hebrew word rachuwm for “merciful” means full of compassion. Christ said, “I desire mercy and not sacrifice” (Mt. 12:7 - NKJV). Mercy is the highest attribute of God, for it is above His law. In the Tabernacle of Moses, the Mercy Seat (a thin sheet of gold) covered the Ark of the Covenant, which contained the two tables of stone upon which the law was written. Even when a person has broken the law, it is God’s prerogative to show mercy. Christ’s desire is that none should perish (2 Pet. 3:9).

A beautiful example of God’s merciful nature is found in Hosea 11:8-9. After speaking of all the sins of the backsliding tribe of Ephraim, the Lord gives the reason why He is not going to destroy Ephraim, but show them mercy. He says, “For I am God and not man.” Christ is the merciful high priest, and He wants us to be merciful. He said, “Blessed are the merciful: for they shall obtain mercy.”

2. Gracious.The word gracious means “to bend or stoop in kindness to an inferior.” Graciousness is a warmheartedness that flows out to those in need. A gracious person not only sees and hears the needs of others, but does something to help them. The gracious nature of the Lord can be seen in His treatment of King David. David said in Psalm 40:1-2: “[The Lord] inclined unto me, and heard my cry. He brought me up also out of an horrible pit.” The Lord heard David’s cry and lifted him up out of the pit of adultery. We should be gracious in our actions and words to others. All of Israel marveled at the gracious words that came forth from the lips of Jesus (Lk. 4:22). May we be gracious as our wonderful Lord.

3. Longsuffering.The literal Hebrew meaning of longsuffering is “one who has a long nose.” The reason why the derivation of longsuffering comes from this meaning is because in the Hebrew culture a person with a short nose was looked upon as someone who would breathe very rapidly, being a person of passion who could become angry very quickly. However, in their minds a person with a long nose would breathe in measured steps, and thus would not be quick to become angry. This is the word the Lord used to describe Himself.

He is slow to anger. He is very patient and waits for a long time for His people to change. He waited for a hundred and twenty years in the days of Noah for people to change from their wicked ways so that He would not have to judge them (1 Pet. 3:20). Isaiah 30:18 says, “And therefore will the Lord wait, that he may be gracious unto you.” The Lord does not desire to judge us, so He suffers with us for a very long time, hoping that we will change so that He can be gracious unto us. God endured the wickedness of King Manasseh because He knew one day he would respond to His grace and change (2 Chron. 33-34). The Lord wants to develop this same virtue in our lives. Paul’s life of suffering was not in vain; his life is held up to all generations as a pattern of longsuffering (1 Tim 1:16).

4. Abundant in Goodness.The Hebrew word  checed for goodness means “lovingkindness.” Goodness can be seen in a practical illustration of lovingkindness toward men whose only claim is their misfortune, such as Job in his hour of need. He said in Job 6:14, “To him that is afflicted pity should be showed from his friend.” The same Hebrew word for goodness is here translated pity. We want to open our hands wide to do good to others (Deut. 15:8). Goodness also means to be incapable of doing evil to others. Many years ago, the Lord appeared to me and said, “Touch me, I am altogether good.” We want to have the goodness of the Lord worked out in our lives.

5. Abundant in Truth.Christ is also abundant in truth. I would like to consider two aspects of truth. First of all, in the Hebrew truth means “steadfastness, faithfulness, and reliability.” The Lord declared in John 17:17, “Thy word is truth.” What God says, He will do. When God speaks to us and says He will do something, we can absolutely count on it because He is the essence and embodiment of truth, and He is utterly reliable, as are His words. A second aspect of truth can be seen in the Lord’s own words in John 14:6: “I am the way, the truth, and the life.” He is truth, and truth is light. There is a liberating power in truth that dispels all darkness (Jn. 8:32).

6. Meek. Meekness describes Christ more adequately probably than any other single word. When John introduced Jesus to Israel, he said, “Behold, the Lamb of God” (Jn. 1:29,36). A lamb has a very meek nature. It does not complain when it is sheared of all that it has (its wool); it just quietly submits to its shearers. Isaiah 53:7 says of Christ, “He was oppressed, and he was afflicted, yet he opened not his mouth: he is brought as a lamb to the slaughter, and as a sheep before her shearers is dumb, so he openeth not his mouth.” When Christ was reviled, He reviled not again (1 Pet. 2:23). Meekness is the quality of spirit that accepts the dealings of God in our lives as working together for our good, without resisting or disputing. Meekness could also be described as “the servant spirit.”

7. Lowly.This quality of Christ is often linked with meekness. Zechariah prophesied of Christ, “Behold, thy King cometh unto thee … lowly, and riding upon an ass” (9:9). When Christ made His triumphal entry into Jerusalem the week of His death upon the cross, He came as the lowly servant riding upon an ass, not as the conquering King riding upon a regal, white horse. Christ was lowly in heart. True lowliness is exemplified by a servant who has no will or agenda of his own, but is under the orders of his master, seeking only to do his will. Jesus relinquished His throne-rights and became totally dependent upon His Father, saying in John 5:19, “I can do nothing of myself.” To truly know Christ not only involves knowing Him as the King of Kings upon the throne of His glory, as the Captain of the Lord’s host, or as the great Healer.

To really know His heart, we need a revelation of Him as the Servant of all who is clothed with the garments of meekness and lowliness. He said, “I am meek and lowly.” The Lord says in Isaiah 57:15, “For thus saith the high and lofty One that inhabiteth eternity, whose name is Holy; I dwell in the high and holy place, with him also that is of a contrite and humble spirit, to revive the spirit of the humble, and to revive the heart of the contrite ones.” Although Christ inhabits the throne of glory, He humbles Himself to be a servant to us and to dwell with the lowly. We must have His mercy, graciousness, longsuffering, goodness, truth, meekness, and lowliness worked out in our lives in order to really know Christ! May our perpetual desire and prayer be, “That I may know Him!” As we press on to know Him, we shall become like Him.

2. THE POWER OF HIS RESURRECTION

The Apostle Paul wrote Philippians 3:10 under the inspiration of the Holy Spirit. Therefore, the order of the phrases is divine and with specific purpose. “That I may know Him” comes before “the power of His resurrection.” We must have an intimate personal relationship with Him and know Him, having His character worked out in our lives, in order to be clothed upon with and participate in the power of His resurrection.

When Paul introduced the thought of knowing the power of the resurrection of the Lord Jesus, he was careful in his choice of the Greek word for “know.” The word he chose emphasizes that this knowledge is not an intellectual appreciation of that tremendous power. We have already noted that “to know Him” means to have a very intimate, personal relationship with Christ. To know the power of His resurrection means that we are an intimate partaker of that same power.

Preparation for the Power of His Resurrection

God prepares His vessels before He uses them. This is illustrated throughout Scripture, and today He is preparing us so that we can be vessels through which He can channel His tremendous power. Moses, the meekest man in the earth, was the one who beheld the likeness of the Lord. In Psalm 103:7 we find that Moses was the one who knew the ways of God, and who manifested the greatest power that any man ever manifested throughout the history of mankind. In 2 Corinthians 3:7-8 the Apostle Paul uses Moses as a type of what God is going to do in the last days of the Church Age. If the glory demonstrated through Moses was extraordinary during the age of the Law, think of what it will be like in the New Testament Age and in our time. In our days the demonstration of the power of the Spirit of God will be even greater. Isaiah 60:2 says that in these last days the actual glory of God will be seen upon His people.

In Zechariah 4:14 there is an illustration of “the two anointed ones, who stand by the Lord of the whole earth.” This refers specifically to Moses and Elijah, but they also represent two companies of God’s people in the last days. Moses represents the ministry of the teacher, and Elijah represents the mighty ministry of the prophet. The prophet Zechariah also saw “a candlestick of pure gold” (Zech. 4:2). From this golden candlestick, which had seven lamps, oil flowed forth. In the Old Testament the candlestick represented the Holy Spirit and the ministry of the Holy Spirit, while the seven lamps represented the seven spirits of God, the anointing upon the Lord Jesus Christ. There is a key principle embodied in the candlestick. In order to be prepared, it had to be tried in the fire and purified. Then it had to suffer blow after blow in the heat of the furnace of affliction so it could be formed and made into a vessel that was fit to have the oil (anointing) of God flow through it. So, too, “the power of His resurrection” is only going to flow through those who pass through the first step of knowing Christ and have the attributes of the nature of Christ worked out in their lives.

The Greatness of the Power of His Resurrection

The Early Church saw great power released. Paul said that “Jesus Christ was declared to be the Son of God with power according to the Spirit of holiness, by the resurrection from the dead” (Rom. 1:4). In 1 Corinthians 2:4-5, the Apostle Paul said, “And my speech and my preaching was not with enticing words of man’s wisdom, but in demonstration of the Spirit and of power: That your faith should not stand in the wisdom of men, but in the power of God.” This is a power greater than that which we have seen in today’s release of the Holy Spirit. A new move of God is coming very soon.

The last day Church will experience a far greater power than the Early Church experienced. This mighty power of God that is coming is the resurrection power by which Jesus was raised from the dead and declared to be the Son of God. We are told in the Scriptures that the power of God came into that tomb and Christ was raised from the dead. However, Christ was not raised alone. There were also others He released at that time. Before the cross, the righteous went down to Paradise when they died (1 Sam. 28). Paradise was somewhere beneath the earth, and was the abode (or resting place) of the righteous.

When Christ was raised from the bowels of the earth, He took all the righteous with Him to heaven. The mighty power of the resurrection of Jesus was so great that all the gates and strongholds of hell could not prevail against it. It not only released Christ from the grave, but also all the Old Testament saints who were captive in the heart of the earth. Paul prayed that the Spirit-filled church at Ephesus might know “what is the exceeding greatness of his power to us-ward who believe, according to the working of his mighty power, which he wrought in Christ, when he raised him from the dead, and set him at his own right hand in the heavenly places” (Eph. 1:19-20). Paul wants us to understand how great is this mighty resurrection power.We need a revelation, which only God can give, so the eyes of our understanding may be enlightened (Eph. 1:18). Only then can we fully understand the magnitude of the power of God that was released at the specific moment when Christ was raised from the heart of the earth and multitudes ascended with Him.

The Church and Resurrection Power

In John 5:19 Jesus said, “The Son can do nothing of himself, but what he seeth the Father do.” In this statement, there is a key to the release of the power of God. As the Lord Jesus Christ watched His Father, He showed Him what to do and then the Son did those things. When Christ taught His disciples, He showed them what to do (how to heal the sick, cleanse lepers, raise the dead, and cast out devils - see Mt. 10:7-8). The Church today needs to manifest the works and miracles of Jesus. The Pentecostal movement in France, for example, came into being and grew because people followed Jesus and were used by God to heal the sick.

Before He went to the cross, Jesus made an amazing statement: “He that believeth on me, the works that I do shall he do also; and greater works than these shall he do; because I go unto my Father” (Jn. 14:12). Because of the resurrection, there is a greater power available to the Church of Jesus Christ than the power that was in operation before the cross. We are going to experience the same anointing that was upon Jesus, but in a far greater measure.

In a small measure, the resurrection power of God was manifested by the early apostles. For example, the very shadow of Peter healed the sick (Acts 5:15-16). Also, “God wrought special miracles by the hands of Paul: so that from his body were brought unto the sick handkerchiefs or aprons, and the diseases departed from them, and the evil spirits went out of them” (Acts 19:11-12). But in the last days, whole communities and nations are going to be blanketed by the resurrection power of God. We live in exciting times. We need to begin to ask the Lord for the power of His resurrection. It comes as we press on to know Christ and seek to have His character worked out in our lives.

3. THE FELLOWSHIP OF HIS SUFFERINGS

The third qualification that the Apostle Paul lays down for us to participate in the first resurrection is that we must know “the fellowship of His sufferings.” The thought of knowing means to actually participate in the sufferings of Christ. Fellowship is based upon common experiences. We can’t really fellowship with those with whom we have little in common. Therefore, to really know the Lord, we must experience what He experienced, and, beloved, this includes suffering.

Many Years ago, one of my aunts had open-heart surgery on both of her heart valves which had been eaten away by a bacterial infection. She was hemorrhaging profusely after the second surgery and was in so much pain that she began to complain just a little bit. The Lord spoke to her: “Do not make any provision for the flesh, Daughter. I am offering you a more excellent way. This can be an ordeal or it can be an opportunity for My grace to be poured into you so you will know that My grace is sufficient.”

Many Christians have problems understanding the place and purpose of pain. Should Christians suffer pain, whether in their body, soul, or spirit? Well, if we want to be an overcomer and have part in the first resurrection, we must know the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings. There is only one way to know the fellowship of Christ’s sufferings, and that is to experience His sufferings ourselves. Suffering is a common part of life, and a major theme in the Bible. It is only through suffering that we can come to know Jesus as the Man of sorrows who is acquainted with grief (Isa. 53:3). While we delight to know the Lord as Jehovah-Rapha our Healer, to know Him fully we must experience the fellowship of His sufferings. Paul said, “If we suffer, we shall also reign with him” (2 Tim. 2:12). Suffering with Jesus is the only way to the throne, and it is the only way we are going to attain unto the first resurrection. Our attitude in suffering determines whether it is going to be an ordeal (and an obstacle) or a wonderful opportunity to grow in our relationship with the Lord.

Now we need to look at the different aspects of Christ’s sufferings, because if we are going to go on with the Lord we will suffer these same things, and we need to know how to triumph in them.

The Sufferings of Christ

1. He suffered in the area of bodily appetites (Mt. 4:3).
2. He suffered in His soul (Mt. 4:6).
3. He suffered in His spirit (Mt. 4:8).
4. He suffered in His body (Isa. 52:14; 50:6).
5. He suffered reproach (Psa. 69:20).
6. He suffered in the area of His will (Lk. 22:42).
7. He suffered in the area of His reputation (Jn. 8:41).
8. He was tempted to wrongly use the power of God to save Himself (Mt. 26:68).
9. He suffered spiritual barrenness (Isa. 53:2).
10. His faith was tested (Mt. 4:3 - “if thou be the Son of God”).
11. He suffered in His physical life (Jn. 7:1). The Jews sought to kill Him.
12. He was forsaken by loved ones (Jn. 6:66).
13. He experienced betrayal (Mt. 26:48-49).
14. He suffered denial (Mt. 26:69-75).
15. He suffered in seeing a loved one suffer—His mother (Jn. 19:26).
16. His people, even His own brothers, did not believe in Him (Jn. 7:5).
17. He suffered martyrdom (Lk. 23:46).

The way to triumph in suffering is to rejoice. Our attitude is so important, for our attitude determines whether we fellowship with Jesus in sufferings. May we “for the joy set before us” endure sufferings that we might know the Lord in a very intimate way (Heb. 12:2).

4. BEING MADE CONFORMABLE UNTO HIS DEATH

The fourth qualification for the first resurrection is that we must be made conformable to the death of Christ. “Being made conformable to His death” should be considered in two aspects: 1.) a daily way of life; and 2.) a goal to be realized by the end of our earthly life.

Dying Daily

We must first of all realize the necessity of dying daily. Paul testified in 1 Corinthians 15:31, “I die daily.” What he meant is that every day he died to self (his will, desires, and ambitions). Paul said in 2 Corinthians 4:11-12, “For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.”

Dying daily does not imply morbidity, but rather wonderful victory. It is death to the old man, that Christ may release His life through us, through our new man (Christ in us). It is essential that we have an initial experience or encounter with the Lord before we can live and progress in this glorious state of victory. The initial encounter is found in Romans 6:6 — “Knowing this (signifying a knowledge born out of an experience, not merely an intellectual appreciation of a truth) that our old man was crucified with Christ.” This is an experience whereby we know that we are dead to our old nature and that we are alive in Christ. Thus, when Paul wrote in Galatians 2:20, “I am crucified with Christ,” he was just stating a fact. As with all experiences, this comes through the sovereign grace of the Lord, as well as through our desire.

Ezekiel 36:37 says, “I will yet for this be inquired of by the house of Israel to do it for them.” The Lord is speaking here about the work of sanctification promised in verses 25-29 of this same chapter. An honest, earnest seeking of the Lord will result in a deeper cleansing that will bring forth a cry from our spirit, because He has witnessed His truth to our hearts. From that time we will be able to say, because we know it in our hearts: “I am crucified with Christ: nevertheless I live; yet not I, but Christ liveth in me.”

From this initial experience there follows the daily reckoning and outworking of that which the Holy Spirit has written upon our heart— that our old man is dead, crucified with Christ (see Rom. 6:11-12). We must daily cry out to the Lord to help us not yield our members to unrighteousness, but to righteousness (Rom. 6:13). Paul emphasizes the same point of the ongoing and ever-deepening experience of dying to self in 2 Corinthians 4. When pouring out his heart to the Corinthian church, Paul said in verses 10-12: “Always bearing about in the body the dying of the Lord Jesus, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our body. For we which live are always delivered unto death for Jesus’ sake, that the life also of Jesus might be made manifest in our mortal flesh. So then death worketh in us, but life in you.”

How can we make this truth clear? Compare these verses with Romans 15:3: “For even Christ pleased not himself; but, as it is written, The reproaches of them that reproached thee fell on me.” In this verse we see two aspects of dying daily:

1.) we should seek to please the Lord, not ourselves;
and 2.) we should embrace the reproaches (or afflictions) of Christ.
First of all, we must lay aside our will, and not seek to please ourselves. We begin to seek only to please the Lord and not to fulfill our own desires, yielding also to the wishes of others. Paul amplifies this truth in Romans 15:1, where he said, “We then that are strong ought to bear the infirmities of the weak, and not to please ourselves.” This means that we should yield to the whims, foibles, desires, and wishes of a weaker brother. We should especially seek to please the other in marriage. That is where this should be developed the most.

Dying daily also includes sufferings. Just as the master potter kneads, hammers, and squeezes the clay (to remove all traces of air and every foreign substance) before fashioning it into the desired vessel, so our loving Heavenly Father permits persecutions and troubles to work deep within our beings to rid us of all hidden imperfections. The result of dying daily is that we release life to others and also to ourselves. Life can only come through death. Jesus made this very clear when He said in John 12:24, “Except a corn of wheat fall into the ground and die, it abideth alone: but if it die, it bringeth forth much fruit.” Every time we elect, by the grace of God, to die (to our will) in any given situation, we are releasing the life of Jesus to another. Also, our own spiritual life will grow by leaps  and bounds, and the fruits of the Spirit will come to maturity in our lives.

Also, we should be prepared at any moment for our life to end, and to stand before the Lord and give an account of our lives. None of us knows when our time to die will come, so we should always be prepared. We should daily die to ourselves and live totally for Jesus, and if we do, we can be confident that when our time comes to go be with the Lord, we will be more than conquerors through Him who loved us. Let us, therefore, seek to be made conformable unto His death.

The Mark (3:12-14)

3:12 - “Not that I have already attained, or am already perfected; but I press on, that I may lay hold of that for which Christ Jesus has also laid hold of me” (NKJV). Paul had accomplished much in life, yet he knew that God still had so much more for him to do. We must never become satisfied in the Christian life with one level of blessing, but as did Paul six years before his death, we, too, must ever
press on.

3:13-14 -God did not choose us only to save us from hell, which we rightly deserved, but we were apprehended by God for a specific work—with a mark to hit and a course to finish! This is the theme of this book. For Paul, his mission was to be the Apostle to the Gentiles. The Apostle Paul said in 1 Corinthians 9:24-27: “Do you not know that those who run in a race all run, but one receives the prize? Run in such a way that you may obtain it. And everyone who competes for the prize is temperate in all things. Now they do it to obtain a perishable crown, but we for an imperishable crown. Therefore I run thus: not with uncertainty. Thus I fight: not as one who beats the air. But I discipline my body and bring it into subjection, lest, when I have preached to others, I myself should become disqualified” (NKJV). Paul was running to win the prize—to cross the finish line and win Jesus Christ!

To finish our race in life and accomplish all that God has purposed for our lives, we must first seek Him to find out what our calling is. The high calling of God for every believer is Philippians 3:10-11— that we might qualify to be kings and priests who will rule and reign with Christ in the Millennium. That is God’s ultimate and best for every Christian. However, God also has a specific calling for each individual believer that is unique to him. We want to press on to obtain God’s best for our lives. In order to finish the race, we must forget those things which are behind (v.13). We have to forget the past and press on! We must leave behind our former life and all our former ambitions and dreams, seeking only one thing in life — to win the race. Also, we must lay aside everything that will weigh us down. When runners prepare for a race, they seek to be as light as possible and wear light clothing so that they are not weighed down.

As Christians, we must dedicate our lives to winning the race. This involves laying down things, even good things, that will distract us and weigh us down. Paul says in Hebrews 12:1, “… Let us lay aside every weight, and the sin which doth so easily beset [or entangle] us, and let us run with patience the race that is set before us.” Another way to look at pressing toward the mark of the high calling of God is through the example of an arrow.The whole purpose of an arrow is that it will hit the mark when it is shot forth. The life of Christ can be seen in this way.  Christ was the Arrow of His Father. This thought is developed in Isaiah 49:2: “And he hath made my mouth like a sharp sword; in the shadow of his hand hath he hid me, and made me a polished shaft; in his quiver hath he hid me.”

There are basically two parts to an arrow: the arrowhead made of steel and the polished shaft made of wood. The arrowhead is the sharp point of the arrow. This speaks of the Word of God, which is like a sharp two-edged sword. God wants to write His Word in our hearts and minds, and put His Word in our mouths.

The second aspect of the development of an arrow is that the wooden shaft must be polished so that when it flies through the air, the aerodynamical forces will not deflect it off course due to any rough edge on the shaft. This takes a great amount of time. It is during this time that the Lord works in our lives and smoothes all the “rough edges.”

An arrow which has a sharp arrowhead and a polished shaft is placed in the quiver of the archer until it is time to be shot forth toward its mark. As it was with Christ, this is one of the most difficult times in our preparation. We are ready and yet we seem to be going nowhere, “spinning our wheels” as it were. Yet God is doing a further work of refining in our lives, mellowing us. Then at His appointed time, we are set in our course; and how well we responded to our time of preparation determines whether we will hit the mark or be deflected off course. We have to learn to overcome offenses, for if we don’t, we will be taken off course by one thing or another, as in the case of Barnabas (Acts 15:36-41). Barnabas became offended because Paul did not want to take his nephew John Mark with them on their second missionary journey.

Paul, however, had very good reasons for not wanting to take Mark with them again. Mark had deserted them on their first missionary journey, and Paul did not think it was wise for him to go with them at that time. Barnabas, because of human ties, became offended. He took Mark with him and sailed to Cyprus— which probably was his home country (Acts 4:36)—and he is never heard of again in Scripture. Silas took his place and went with Paul, having the blessing of the church (Acts 15:40). Remember, in Acts 13 the Lord revealed through the Holy Spirit the call that was upon the lives of Barnabas and Paul. They were called to minister to the Gentiles. Yet Barnabas never finished his course; he never hit God’s mark for his life. What happened to a man who started out so well and had so much potential and so many promises?

Barnabas was called of God, anointed of God in Acts 13, and shot forth as an arrow with Paul toward the mark of God. Yet he fell short of the mark of God’s best for his life—he was a deflected arrow, a disqualified runner. The problem is that Barnabas became offended. He took up the offense of John Mark, and it destroyed him. How sad indeed, because in the end Mark overcame his immaturity, became profitable unto Paul (2 Tim. 4:11), and was used by God to write the Gospel that bears his name. In the end, Mark did triumph; yet Barnabas, because he was offended, never finished his course.

We must realize that God has a very specific plan for each of our lives. The Lord has a blueprint for our lives, and when we die we are held accountable as to whether or not we finished our course. As the Lord was preparing to go to the cross, He said to His Father in John 17:4, “I have glorified thee on the earth: I have finished the work which thou gavest me to do.” Christ had come to the earth to be the Lamb of God who would die for the sins of the world, and He finished His course. We want to be able to say with Paul at the end of our lives: “I am now ready to be offered, and the time of my departure is at hand. I have fought a good fight, I have finished my course, I have kept the faith” (2 Tim. 4:6-7). We want to be runners that win the race and win the prize; and arrows that hit God’s predetermined mark for our lives.  Determine in your heart today that you are not going to be satisfied with second best, but only with God’s very best for your life. May we ever press on for God’s highest, not settling for second best.

3:15 - This verse is difficult to understand in English, but what it really means is that a person who has come to a degree of maturity in Christ should still be pressing on in order to fulfill all that the Lord has purposed for him upon this earth. There is no relaxation or retirement for the Christian. We must redeem every minute of the day, and make every moment count for eternity.

Conclusion

As Paul closes this section, he tells us that if we are not totally fulfilling God’s purposes for our lives, we may with confidence expect that the Lord will reveal it to us. God will convict us if we are erring in an area of our lives. The Lord made it very clear to my wife and I many years ago that a born-again Christian never suddenly falls into sin, as the catch phrase of today goes. Before a person backslides and commits sin, he has ignored many warning signs by the Lord. The Lord puts checkpoints along every path that leads to sin. The Lord warns us again and again.Only after a person has not listened to the Lord will he fall into sin. Therefore, if we listen to the Lord,we never have to fear about going off course. He is able to keep us from falling (Jude 1:24). All we have to do is be sensitive to Him and respond to what He is saying, and we will attain unto the fullness of the stature of Christ and be presented faultless and blameless before His throne with great joy.

May we be as Daniel, who was told at the end of his life that he would stand in his appointed place in heaven. He hit the mark for his life, as did John the Baptist, of whom the Scriptures testify that he “finished his course” (Acts 13:25).